Staff Care’s Country Doctor of the Year Award

Country doctors are not a thing of the past. Today, country doctors still make house calls, know their patients personally and dedicate themselves to the care of their community. To honor these exceptional physicians and recognize their continuing contribution to rural healthcare, Staff Care is proud to sponsor the Country Doctor of the Year Award. The award is presented each year to a physician who best exemplifies the spirit, skill and dedication of America’s rural medical practitioners.

Stay Tuned for the Upcoming Announcement of our 2019 Country Doctor

Meet Dr. Charles Ozborn of Eupora, Mississippi, Staff Care’s 2018 Country Doctor of the Year

Meet Dr. Charles Ozborn, a dedicated physician who has spent more than 50 years caring for patients, delivering babies and improving the health of his small community in Eupora, Mississippi.

Dr. Ozborn received his first lesson in obstetrics at age 12 by delivering baby cows on his parents’ dairy farm. He subsequently put himself through college by raising corn, tomatoes, and cotton, and by age 24 had achieved his dream of becoming a physician. Settling in the small town of Eupora, population 2,200. Dr. Ozborn has delivered more than 4,000 babies and seen countless patients during his half-century medical career—regardless of an individual’s ability to pay. Read more about Dr. Ozborn, our 2018 Country Doctor of the Year.

An Honor Roll of Legendary Rural Physicians: Past Country Doctor of the Year Recipients

2017: Van Breeding, M.D. Letcher County, Kentucky

Based in Whitesburg, the county seat of Letcher County, Kentucky, Dr. Breeding provides dedicated, seemingly tireless care to that county as well as neighboring Harlan and Hazard Counties -- an area beset with challenges including a severely diminished economy, a higher-than-average poverty rate, and an abundance of out-of-work citizens.

But Dr. Breeding, son of a local coal mine worker, faces these challenges with fortitude and aplomb. “My heart is in these hills and with these people,” Dr. Breeding told Staff Care. “My patients are my friends and in many cases my relatives. I can’t imagine living or practicing anywhere else.” Read more about Dr. Breeding, our 2017 Country Doctor of the Year.

2016: Jasmine Sulaiman, M.D. Cleveland, Texas

Often scheduled to see patients 40 hours a week while serving as medical director of four clinics and the local hospice — and also making house calls — Staff Care's 2016 Country Doctor of the Year, Jasmine Sulaiman, M.D., has also worked to implement a program that upgraded medical care at the county jail and spearheaded an effort that saw the Health Center of Southeast Texas designated as a Level 2 Patient Centered Medical Home.

2014: John Otho "Rob" Marsh, M.D. Middlebrook, Virginia

The son of a World War II veteran and former U.S. Secretary of the Army, Dr. Marsh established a renowned record as one of the most decorated military physicians in the United States, having received the Legion of Merit, two Bronze Stars, a Purple Heart, the Department of Defense Meritorious Service Medal and the Army Meritorious Service Medal. He is still warmly regarded in Delta Force circles for founding the first full-service, full-time family practice clinic for Delta Force families.

2013: Robert Bösl, M.D. Starbuck, Minnesota

At 66, many people are contemplating their retirement. Not Dr. Robert Bösl, who still drives the nearly 40-mile round trip to the hospital in the neighboring town of Morris multiple times daily to check on patients and perform surgeries he can’t do in his hometown of Starbuck, Minnesota.

As a longtime resident of the town, Dr. Bösl joined a family practice there in 1982. When his partners retired, he became the town’s only doctor, and a lifeline to its 1,300 residents. He's worked long hours ever since, doing everything from delivering babies to performing surgery, even driving through blizzards to deliver antibiotics. Watch Dr. Bösl in "Small Town Doctors," a video from the University of Minnesota.

2012: Neil Nelson, M.D. Gibson City, Illinois

Trained in internal medicine/pediatrics, Dr. Nelson sees patients of all ages in his practice, regardless of ability to pay. Raised on his family's 320 acre farm in Gibson City, and a farmer from an early age, Dr. Nelson knew he wanted to be a physician from the time he worked at the switchboard of Gibson Area Hospital where he was born, and where he now admits patients.

2011: Keith Morrow, M.D. Hacklebird, Alabama

When an E-F5 tornado devastated the town of Hackleburg, Alabama, including both his medical offices, Dr. Keith Morrow continued to do what he has done for more than 25 years — treat patients and serve as a pillar of his community.

2010: Kenneth Jackson, M.D. Kingman, Arizona

After completing his medical training in the 1970s, Dr. Jackson spent a year in a migrant health clinic, then worked for five years at the Indian Health Service hospital on the White Mountain Apache Reservation in Whiteriver, Arizona where he delivered both of his two children. He moved to Kingman in 1991 and has been providing free care to Native American communities for 16 years.

2009: Steven J. Smith, M.D. Marathon, Florida

For most of the last 30 years, a 90-mile strip of the Florida Keys was covered by one surgeon and one surgeon alone, Dr. Steven J. Smith. For two and a half decades, Dr. Smith covered two hospitals located more than 40 miles apart, often making the drive between facilities three times daily, while being on call around the clock, 365 days a year.

2008: David Watson, M.D. Yoakum, Texas

Dr. Watson arrived in Yoakum immediately out of medical training and began the multifarious tasks of a country doctor: family physician, surgeon, obstetrician and (unofficial) psychiatrist. The 78-year-old Dr. Watson continues to provide most of these services, seeing 20 to 30 patients a day in his office, rounding on patients in the hospital and the nursing home, and mixing in the occasional house call.

2007: Hiram T. Ward, M.D. Murfreesboro, Arkansas

When the only hospital in the county was faced with imminent closure due to a lack of physicians accepting doctor jobs at the facility, 81-year-old Dr. Hiram Ward volunteered to come out of retirement to provide medical coverage for the hospital seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

2006: David Nichols, M.D. White Stone, Virginia

Once a week for 27 years Dr. David Nichols has flown out to tiny Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay to care for its isolated population of 600 people, most of them the descendants of English settlers who came to the island in the 1600s.

2005: Katrina Poe, M.D. Kilmichael, Mississippi

"Dr. Poe is more than a physician in Kilmichael, she's the community's guardian angel."

2004: Kenneth Paul Mauterer, M.D. Olla, Louisiana

"They said they were looking for someone who was one fish short of a stringer," says Dr. Mauterer. "I guess that's me."

2003: Charles Boyette, M.D. Belhaven, North Carolina

Dr. Boyette cared for patients through a hurricane, even after the hospital was evacuated.

2002: James Blume, D.O. Forest Hill, West Virginia

Dr. Blume worked through his own colon cancer, selling personal property to pay rising malpractice premiums.

2001: Kamlesh Gosai, M.D. Bentleyville, Pennsylvania

Dr. Gosai stepped in after several other physicians turned down the role of caring for patients in a declining town.

2000: Howard Clark, M.D. Morton, Mississippi

Single-handedly keeping the local hospital open, Dr. Clark still worked close to 100 hours a week at age 73.

1999: Paul F. Maddox, M.D. Campton, Kentucky

Dr. Maddox continued to care for his community, even after being diagnosed with cancer, scheduling patients around his daily chemotherapy sessions.

1998: Elton D. Lehman, D.O. Mt. Eaton, Ohio

Dr. Lehman brought modern medicine to the large Amish community of Stark County.

1997: Claire Louise Caudill, M.D. Morehead, Kentucky

Known as the "Mother of Rowan County," Dr. Caudill delivered more than 8,000 babies during her 50-year career.

1996: William Hill, M.D. Carrollton, Alabama

Physicians from the Hill family have treated patients in Carrollton since before the Civil War.

1995: John Harlan Haynes, M.D. Vivian, Louisiana

Described as "a cross between Marcus Welby and Daniel Boone," Dr.Haynes is credited with saving his local hospital.